The apparatus of this invention is one including a table with a supporting surface useable for both the spreading and the cutting of layups of sheet material and which includes a plurality of pins distributed over all or at least a portion of the surface. When all of the pins are lowered the table may be used in a generally conventional manner for spreading and cutting single layers or layups of sheet material without pinning. However, when desired, the pins contained within a given area of the supporting surface may be raised to adapt that area to the spreading and/or cutting of a layup with the pins extending through the layers of the layup to hold them in strict registry.
the use of pins with spreading and cutting tables is well known in the art. It is also known to make such tables in a form whereby pins may be applied to or removed from different areas of the supporting surface to selectively adapt all or a given area of the table to either a pinning or a non-pinning procedure. For example, Japanese Utility Model Publication no. 27277/81 and Japanese Laid Open Patent Application No. 92469/89 both show tables including supporting surfaces having distributed holes into or from which needles may be manually placed or removed by hand. Further, Japanese Patent Publication No. 35306/86 and Japanese Utility Model Publication No. 717/83 both show tables having needles permanently associated therewith and distributed over the supporting surface which needles are moveable vertically between raised and lowered positions by pressure fluid actuators. In the devices of both of the latter publications, a separate witch controlling each fluid pressure actuator is provided on a switch panel so that the raising of the pins in a first area of the table and the lowering of the pins in a second area of the table to adapt only the first area to a pinning procedure requires a careful and time consuming setting of the individual pin controlling switches.
After a layup has been spread and pinned it is often desirable to maintain the pins in the layup during the cutting procedure to keep the layers from shifting relative to one another due to the forces imposed by the cutting tool. However, unless careful precautions are taken to see that no pins are located in the path of the cutting tool the danger exists that the cutting tool or the presser foot of the cutter will collide with one or more of the pins during a cutting procedure to damage the tool or otherwise prevent proper cutting.
The general object of the invention is therefore to provide a spreading and cutting apparatus of the foregoing character having a means whereby the provision or non-provision of raised pins in a given area of the supporting surface is quickly and easily controllable by an operator.
A further object of the invention is to provide a spreading and cutting apparatus of the foregoing character including a means for automatically lowering the pins in the vicinity of the cutter during a cutting procedure to enable the cutting of a pinned layup without danger of the pins interfering with the operation of the cutter.
Other objects and advantages of the invention will be apparatus from the following detailed description of a preferred embodiment of the invention and from the appended claims taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.